x-values revert to item number

[cole pierce]

I've just reloaded Excel 97 on a new computer running
Windows XP. When plotting $A1:$A10 vs $B1:$B10, the plot
is fine. When adding a series, $A11:$A20 vs $B11:$B20,
the x-values in the 2nd set revert to a simple series,
1,2,3,4,5..., rather than the value in the series itself.

When plotting the second series in a separate graph, the
same thing happens: my x-values, instead of being
3,5,5,9,22, are 1,2,3,4,5.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Jerry W. Lewis]

Change from "Line" Chart to "XY (Scatter)" Chart.

Jerry

 

[Jon Peltier]

Also make sure that (a) the values in column A are really assigned to
the series' X values, and (b) the values in column A are numerical
values, not text.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

 

[cole pierce]

Thanks, Jon and Jerry, but both of those parameters were
correct in the original. Any other ideas???

 

[Jon Peltier]

Select column A. From the Edit menu, choose Clear > Formats. Are they
all right aligned within the cells? If so, they are numerical. Any which
are left aligned are text. All it takes is a single text value in the
range of X values to muck it up.

If in fact you have a text value, you can convert it easily. Select and
copy an empty cell, select the cell containing text that should be a
number. From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special, choose the Value and
Operation - Add options.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

 

[cole pierce]

Bingo! I had selected the entire column and formatted it
as a zero-decimal number, but some of the values remained
General. Your procedure worked like a charm. Thanks
very much from Orange County CA.

 

[Jon Peltier]

I was pretty sure this was the issue. When you said it worked fine until
you added data, I suspected that the new data was not numeric, leading
to your familiar symptoms.

- Jon